Many foreigners (especially those who go abroad for the first time) do not know how visa programs work. There are more than 5 visa programs in Poland, which differ in terms of conditions, purposes and duration of stay. To avoid unnecessary problems, it is better to take care of the time of your stay in advance and correctly calculate the number of available days. Today we will tell you more about how to correctly calculate the visa corridor to Poland.
What is a visa corridor to Poland?
It is actually very simple - the visa corridor is the amount of days you can legally spend in Poland. Some people use this term to mean the time between two possible visas, but we consider the visa corridor as the length of stay in Poland.
Types of visas to Poland
Well, in order to understand how to calculate the visa corridor in Poland, you must first understand the types of visa programs. What are the current visa programs for Poland?
Schengen visa - you can stay in Poland continuously for 90 out of 180 days.
Visa-free program - you can stay in Poland for 90 out of 180 days.
National visa D05 - it is a semi-annual visa, because it allows you to stay in the country for 180 days out of 365.
Seasonal visa - allows you to stay 270 days a year in the country.
Voevodship visa - allows you to stay in Poland for a whole year.
If you want to learn more about all types of visa programs to Poland and how to get one, you should read our article.
Why calculate the visa corridor?
Firstly, if you have incorrectly calculated the number of available days during your stay in Poland and exceeded this number, you will be marked for deportation at the border and further banned from entering Poland. This is a very serious matter, with which it is better not to joke, and in advance to calculate everything down to the smallest details.
Also, if you incorrectly calculate the corridor between visas, being in your home country and start making a visa, there may be unpleasant consequences. For example, you may be issued an invitation not for 180 days, but for a shorter period, or you may not be able to accept the documents at the visa center at all.
How to calculate the visa corridor?
The corridor should be observed only after the visa-free regime and after a six-month visa. Let's learn more about how to calculate the available days of stay in the country. The basic formula for calculating the 180-day visa corridor is as follows:
But even here there are some nuances. For example, if your visa is 180/180 - this means that it does not provide for a corridor within it. We offer to break down this situation on a real example to help you understand it. Imagine that you arrived on a semi-annual visa on 01.01.2023 and left Poland on 01.06.2023. The next visa can be opened only on 01.01.2024.
What if you spent only half of the available days in Poland on a visa, and then you left and your employer canceled the invitation? In such a case you will need to use the following formula:
IMPORTANT: unspent days will be taken away only if your invitation to the country has been canceled. If during your stay in Poland, you returned home for a few weeks and came straight back to Poland, the days will not be deducted from the corridor. Then you need to count according to the usual formula we have already written above.
We suggest to consider another case with a six-month visa. Only in this case we take as a basis a visa 180/365. Such a visa means that it is valid for a whole year, but you can work on it only for 180 days. Imagine that your visa will be valid from 01.01.2023 to 30.12.2023. During this period you can work no more than 180 days.
What conclusions can be made? As you may have already realized, messing around with the number of available days on your visa can end badly. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you calculate your visa corridor clearly before and during your trip. Ideally, get a residence card, which entitles you to stay in Poland for up to three years.
